Social Mobility: Stanmore to Stratford (Trial run)

How can a space be socially mobile? In order to find out I decided to ride around on the underground system with a camera and sound recorder, whilst trying not to look too suspicious. The tube was selected as a space within which to research this question as it is a small delineated space holding a finite number of people and consequently a manageable amount of visual data. This is in contrast to attempting the same experiment above ground; for example by navigating the city on foot or by bicycle, which would generate a far larger amount of visual data.

The Jubilee Line was chosen because it bisects London north-west to south-east passing through a range of neighbourhoods with a variety of socio-economic demographics, in addition to the centres of commerce, tourism, power and finance; Bond Street; Bond Street, Green Park and Westminster; Westminster and Canary Wharf respectively.

Below are a set of photos taken on my trial run. I took a photo each time the train stopped and people had got on and off. When I was unable to photograph cleanly down the aisle I didn’t take a photo, meaning that not all the stops are documented. However, I have since decided that in order to be consistent I will photograph at each stop regardless of whether my view is obstructed or not, as can be seen on my second attempt. In addition, Bond Street was closed for maintenance work.

The reason for taking the photographs is to mine them for visual data in relation to social mobility. Therefore, looking at the demographics of the commuters as alluded to earlier in this post.

NB: This page on my blog has been set up specifically as a way to present the results of my sensory (visual/audio) research and therefore won’t contain much text.

I also understand that there are issues of ethics when photographing people without their knowledge or consent and publishing the photos online. These issues will be dealt with in my report.